MBB: Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

[Drake Palmer]

In the holiday hubbub & also unfortunate news about Keith Eckhoff, it was overlooked that yesterday Bethel pounded Crown College 90-65. It appears the Royals are finally making an attempt to get the ball to their biggs with Meadowcroft, Hinrichs & Cook totaling 33 points.

Local - we're going to need an exhaustive, in-depth, hard hitting look at the Hamline Pipers.  Whazzup?!? It's a good thing AO, a poster from the MIAC football board isn't around.  Earlier this fall, he was throwing out some outlandish comments about the best teams from the UMAC hanging with the top teams from the MIAC.  Right now the Pipers are making him look good, having lost earlier to Northwestern & now St. Scholastica.  On the other hand, I guess we shouldn't rush to put Hamline in the top tier.

One other question, why isn't Wiener starting?  He hasn't started since the 2nd game of the season & his minutes are like a yo-yo that gets played less & less.  It's beginning to look more & more like Coach Wohler is patterning his bench play after the Oles' style.  Sixteen out of 17 players on the roster played for Hamline & noteably conspicuous by his absence - Sam Wiener.  Any comments LC?

[funbballer]

Willy.....you can color me BAD as I was one of those predicting the Pipers to be a top 6 team. Don't know what the problem is over there....thought Wohler had them turned around, but it may very well be a year or two too soon.

Maybe they'll turn things around & still make the playoff group as we don't know about the CON situation or what other teams will be stepping up. Carleton has dug themselves a hole, BU is a question mark although they pounded that big time threat Crown College yesterday, SMU is maybe in the same situation as HU, STO has Koz, SJU is much better, MAC is inconsistent, UST & GAC should be at the top of the heap.......don't know where the heck I'm going with all this other than it should be a wide open rat race come January-February.

Anybody else feel the same way?

[miacwatchmen]

I like UST and GAC at seasons end. Those two closely followed by SJU and i think BU will pull things together down the stretch. I also think that despite the loss of Eckoff CON can pull into the 5th spot. As for the 6th spot i have no clue i think that one is wide open.

[localcoach]

Drake - I'm not sure why the Pipers have been on the losing end for much of the early part of this season.  I do wonder about the number of players that see time in each game.  My only thought is that Coach Wohler and his staff have yet to find a group of five that they feel confident in. 

Jon DeRock's numbers have taken a tumble the past few games.  I looked at the box score a few minutes ago and the 0 assists to 9 turnovers for yersterday's game was not pretty.  One positive looked to be the play of Kyle Foster, who finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 turnover, 2 steals, and 2 blocks in 34 minutes of action.  Nobody else scored more than 6 points.  Ouch!

As for Sam Wiener, it sounds like he has an injury of some kind.  I heard that second hand though this weekend so I don't have any details.

Still I'm not ready to write of Hamline just yet.  There's got to be something more about a team that can beat Carleton on the road, hang with NDSU for a majority of the game, and only lose to the conference leader UST, by 6 points.  I will be interested to see if any changes have been made when conference play resumes in January.

funballer - I'm willing to concede at this juncture that UST, Gustavus, and St. John's will all make the post-season tournament.  Where they will finish in the standings I do not know.  The other three spots are wide open at this point.  I won't count out anybody.

On another subject, I'm disappointed that I won't get to see Mr. Eckhoff play this season.  That's a sad way for things to end.

[Drake Palmer]

LC - not quite as hard hitting or "Geraldo Riviera like" as I had hoped, but oh well, it's the holidays. 

I think Willy will probably have a field day with this one, but do you have any idea how long Wiener's been injured?  I'm not sure if it's injury related or other reason/s, but it seems he's under performed to the point that he's lost his starting spot.

But the way Wohler's used his players; I think it's safe to say that no one seems to have a lock on a starting spot for the Pipers.  I think he's trotted out a different lineup each game they've played this season. It seems like some type of head games are being used by Jedi master Coach Wohler?  Players that were previously starting & played 30+ minutes in one game, go to 8 minutes the following game.  The Dawg house & Penthouse on Snelling.
 
Further on up the road, the Bethel coaches must be screaming, pleading & cajoling for their biggs to step up, & for the wings to make an honest attempt to get the post players the ball.  So far, it seems to be working.  Meadowcroft has been the leading scorer the last couple of games, although his rebounding appears to have fallen off.  Hinrichs & Cook seemed to have picked up the rebounding slack though.  After the first of the year & conference play resumes, we'll see how solid the new-look Royals are.

Augsburg continues to fly under most peoples' radar screen (mine included) & lost to Waldorf College on Saturday night.  I ran into an Augsburg player over the weekend & we had a chance to talk briefly about the Auggies.  In spite of their W-L record, they hold high hopes that things will begin to come together with Coach Griess in the next couple of years.

[bchoops]

While I'm glad that BU won on Saturday, and am pleasantly surprised by some of the positive comments on the board recently concerning my Royals, I'm a bit less optimistic.  We still seem to be taking a ton of threes, and yes the bigs seemed to have stepped up a bit recently, yet we still have not competed that well in conference.  MLC and Crown are not exactly powerhouses, so even though those were much needed confidence-boosting wins, and may have been positive in terms of game-plan execution (that is, working the ball inside a bit more), I still think that when the grind of conference play gets going, like most teams, BU will revert to their normal ways, which unfortunately for us includes jacking a ton of threes.  While I do think we're a good outside shooting team, even if we have not shown it as well as we could this year, I think this will more likely than not be problematic.  So, all this to say, I'm encouraged that some of you think BU will work it's way into the top six by season's end, but unless we really are making a more conscious effort to establish an inside game (especially in conference play) and are willing to eschew the three-ball (just a little), I'm a little less certain.  Of course, I have yet to see them play, and will likely not be able to see them play this season, so what do I know?

[localcoach]

Drake - I finally caught up with one of the Hamline assistant coaches last night and he said that Wiener's foot has been bothering him lately and thus the reason why he hasn't played.  It sounds like he will be ready to go for the first game back against St. Olaf.  I was also told that freshman Zev Kujolic will finally be ready to play then as well, having been sidelined up until now with a bad ankle injury. 

Has Coach Bjorklund finally started playing Cook some consistent minutes?  As I have said before, and as bchoops stated below, without an inside presence, BU will have to shoot a lot of three's and they aren't making them this year like they have in previous seasons.

[Willy Wonka]

Drake - Ain't no way I'm gonna touch your Wiener...

Local - Are you saying we should be expecting to see Hamline's rotation to expand to 15 with the start of the new year? I played ball with one of Wohler's college buddies and he said he was a great player...but the coaching hasn't been anything to write home about thus far. Even Koz figured out that hockey subbing doesn't work on the hardwood, right funbb?

[Drake Palmer]

Willy - you must be trying to fill up my book of "Big Willy Style Quotes".

I thought you might notice the injured player reference & browbeat another player for not living up to expectations. 

BcHoops -  After closer examination of the recent Bethel boxscores, it looks like Meadowcroft  is getting the shooting part down, treys & all.  Unlike his predecessor, T. Jones, Meadowcroft is not hauling down the monster boards - yet.  Hopefully for Bethel's sake, it's just a matter of time.  But don't worry, the board boobirds will be back out come the first of the year. 

[funbballer]

Drake - Ain't no way I'm gonna touch your Wiener...

Local - Are you saying we should be expecting to see Hamline's rotation to expand to 15 with the start of the new year? I played ball with one of Wohler's college buddies and he said he was a great player...but the coaching hasn't been anything to write home about thus far. Even Koz figured out that hockey subbing doesn't work on the hardwood, right funbb?

Willy....I'm not gonna touch this wiener conversation...if you get my drift!

Regarding Koz........phew!,he's a beauty. I think his salary has been structured as such that he gets paid for each substiution, thereby, the more subbing he does, the larger salary he draws. Kind of like a commission-only sales job, you know?!!   

I see where UST has some "regional" action coming up....they play at UW-LaCrosse Wed. night (21st) and then play in a tourney at River Falls next week. These games could be crucial for end-of-season playoff status, if UST doesn't win the MIAC tourney, could they not?  

[onearmedscot]

I talked to a coaching friend last night, emailed two others and instant messaged a fourth before sending a snail mail message to a fifth.

They all confirmed that MAC will be top six when Lars and Liddell become full strength.

oAs

[columbianmaffia]

i asked lots of people questions and the final answer is that im easily one of the top 158 coolest people ever even when im not at full strength

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

Augsburg continues to fly under most peoples' radar screen (mine included) & lost to Waldorf College on Saturday night.  I ran into an Augsburg player over the weekend & we had a chance to talk briefly about the Auggies.  In spite of their W-L record, they hold high hopes that things will begin to come together with Coach Griess in the next couple of years.

Loing to Waldorff doesnt bode well... they were a 2 year school till a cuople of years back; I think UST's Shader was from their last class as a juCo. A bud of mine is an alum and from what he's said, they are building their athletic program with a longe-range goal of being a d3 school.

However, everything i hear is that Greiss is more thancapable of turnign Augs into a contender, and that the Admin is supportive & patieny, relaizing you cant rebuild ROme in a day

[SUMMIT!!!!!]

What I want for Christmas:

A MIAC/IIAC or MAIC/WIAC holiday shoot out, like the Big 10/11 and ACC do, except all at the same site...think abuot it--- 10 games over 2-3 days/nights....sounds like heaven

[Drake Palmer]

Poll watching:

Well another week & another poll.  The Tommies check in for the first time at #23 in the D3Hoops Poll, while the Gusties slide a littler further in the "Others receiving votes" category.  Last week the Gusties received 64 votes while this week they only pick up 34 votes.  And this is after winning by a sizeable margin in the only game they played against UM-Morris.

UST has a game against a suddenly dangerous UW-LaCrosse on Wednesday night.  Last season they were 7-18, but are 8-2 this year .  From periodically checking the WIAC board, it seems the posters over there are mildly surprised by the success LaCrosse is having so far.  They have highlight wins against Buena Vista from the IIAC, & knocked off UW-Platteville.

If the Tommies beat LaCrosse, it would appear they could be in decent shape going into the holiday tourney next week at UW-River Falls.  Their first night opponent is NAIA school Culver Stockton who is 2-10 on the season, & 2-8 River Falls the following night.

In other trivia of note, #11 ranked UW-Stout keeps dodging bullets & beat 1-6 St. Norberts' 59-58 on a last second put back basket last night. That's two last second wins they've had in as many weeks.